Thursday, April 24, 2008
Today, I went outside.
Today was the best day that I had in ages! It was normal. It was calm. The closest thing to drama will be the next episode of ABC's "LOST" that will be on TV within the next hour. It was absolutely, incredibly fantastic!


It all started with not getting up this morning. My wonderful husband helped Squirt to get dressed and took her off to Pre-K. I awoke just an hour later to the invigorating smell of fresh Starbucks coffee brewing.

Later I had lunch and great conversation with my best friend. We went out to look at our new home to be. She has the coolest sense of style and I can't wait to hear her decoration ideas. At the moment the new home is fresh painted, paneled and carpeted with two - yes two - photos of happy, smiling, Buddy Jesus portraits that came with the house.

Interesting wall art, but not anything that should be hanging in my bedroom as I undress and carry on with marriage consummation rituals. Not that this happens often these days anyhow.

But after today, I'm definitely in need of more of these kind of days. I'm going to cut back the working hours and add them to my family, friends and self hours.

Welcome back life! I sure missed you!

Today I went outside and was surprised to find the real world.

The sky was exactly the color of my monitor screen,
the sound of the birds was in remarkable stereo,
and the dogs, cats, and people were cleverly animated.

There were no pop-ups unless you count the butterflies,
and they carried no advertising.

The entire display was completely wireless, which was fortunate,
because I could find no wall plugs on the horizon.

There was an odd sort of email.
It was made of paper, and delivered by a grown man in shorts.

I was amazed to find that I could chat with friends without typing!

I sat on the front steps of my home page, opened my brown bag,
and enjoyed a lunch of Spam and cookies.

After several hours it all became dark.
so I assumed that it had crashed, and tried to restart it.
I gave up after waiting almost all night.

Although the real world is quite slow, and probably an obsolete version,
I plan to go outside and attempt to reboot it again some time.

-Jack Blanchard
Stumble It! .......posted by Margaret @ 8:25 PM   7 comments
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What to do? What to do?
Well, it's been terrible and I haven't posted in over another week. Things WILL get better and rolling again, I PROMISE.


For starters, the big move is on. Soon I'll be laying my head inside a real brick and mortar home. What a concept!! We've already started packing and moving some things over and hope to have this mobile home sold and completely moved by the first weekend in May. We already had three offers and haven't even put out a "For Sale" sign yet.

On the work front, I'm off for the rest of the week. Mrs. IOH is going into Hospice House for a few days. It's a little sticky of a situation. For some reason her daughter put her on Hospice Care. Which simply stated, means that any future medical need for Mrs. IOH will be treated palliatively and any curative care refused.

Mrs. IOH is still battling a terrible Urinary Tract Infection and it seems that giving her an IV and antibiotics is considered curative care and not allowed. I totally disagree and think it is awful to have any person here in America die from Septicemia as they do in a third world country.

Matters are even worse. Last Tuesday I found Mrs. IOH's medications missing and her Roxanol (Concentrated Liquid Morphine) tampered with!!! Somebody has been tripping out on her morphine and to cover up their tracts filled the bottle with what seems to be plain tap water. It is absolutely horrendous and deplorable. To think, that if Mrs. IOH were to die tonight and be in need of comfort and pain relief - she would have been given water instead!!!

I immediately brought this to her daughter's attention and she and the head nurse from Hospice simply stated - It's going to be alright. It's no big deal. This happens. Let's put it in the past.

I'm VERY, VERY uncomfortable.

Overall, as I sit here this evening - there are many choices and decisions in front of me. I promised Mr. & Mrs. IOH that I would be there for the both of them always. I will keep my promise, but I also understand I do not have to agree with nor work for their daughter in doing so.

If I quit, Mrs. IOH will more than likely be placed in a nursing home. She'll have a social life, a roommate, be given her proper medications and curative care measures where needed. Nothing extraordinary. No feeding tubes or crazy measures to sustain life. But at least the basics of comfort and care.

Mrs. IOH and I even discussed this today. She actually agreed that there was no sense her staying home and caged in her bed like a common criminal. Ignored half of the time. Honestly, I was recently yelled at by two of the other caretakers because I "spoil" Mrs. IOH and thus make their jobs harder.

Come on now!! WTF? Does me spoiling Mrs. IOH infringe on their rights to sit and play games on the computer all night long? In fact, does it infringe on their right to be able to get off by tripping on her morphine prescriptions?

I can be there for her. I WILL be there for her. Visit her as often as possible. Take her for walks around the nursing home grounds. Advocate for her. Care for her.

What to do? What to do?
Stumble It! .......posted by Margaret @ 2:00 AM   5 comments
Thursday, April 10, 2008
I have a day off! I have a day off!
Technically, I'm off from work today but still gotta work here at home to catch up on a zillion matters that are piling up all over the place. Either way, I'm copping a squat and sitting here at my computer to slap in a blog post. Now where did I leave off?

The trip to NJ for my Grandfather's funeral went very well and the service lovely. Returning home went not so well as it seems one of the care takers had quit while I was away. I also went in to work Friday to find Mrs. IOH in a state of delirium. Urinary tract infections and pain tend to do that to a frail elderly person. Caring for a delirious patient can be frustrating and it sure takes a lot of patience.

Patience is a virtue that many people tell me that I have. I'm told I'm a people person also, but I always brush that away. Not out of humbleness - but in all honesty, I don't believe that I am a patient people person. Of course, I appear to be just that but if you only knew the thoughts bouncing around inside of my head at times.

We're moving across town on May 1st, into a house 10 sizes too big. It is furnished, so there goes half the battle in moving and packing. However, as I look on my desktop now I'm seeing a bunch of stuff that I do not know how it got there. How it even came into this house. Where, o where, may I ask - does all this junk come from?

I can either have a huge yard sale in the next few weeks or rent a small dumpster. Sadly, I think I'm going to rent the dumpster. I'm sure there is value in some of this junk and someone will find something to be a treasure - but sadly, I just want to be free of it all as quick and easy as possible. Let the Gypsies have a field day down at the dump.

But now, for today - my day off - it would probably be smart to get our income taxes done and ready to be sent out. Since I won't have a day off until next Thursday, April 15th will bite me in the ass before then.

....or maybe I'll just take a lazy nap and give them to H & R Block to do.
Stumble It! .......posted by Margaret @ 3:27 PM   7 comments

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